I want the actions the characters take on Breaking Bad to always have consequences. I guess that in itself was a reaction to years and years of television, watching TV shows in which the characters would have some life-changing event where they kill someone or they get wounded and the next week they’re basically back on their feet and there’s no emotional repercussions. That is not reality as we know it to be; it’s a TV reality. That’s because television has to maintain a sort of a stasis and keep the characters more or less in one spot from week to week to allow for continuity, so the viewer can tune in and tune out as they choose. That’s just what television does, and it’s not a bad thing or a good thing. It’s just a structural conceit of television that is time-honored, and it goes back to the beginnings of the medium. But it’s not reality.

I always say, if Walter White had a superpower, it wouldn’t be his intellect. He’s got all of that and those are wonderful tools in his toolbox, but Walt’s main superpower is his ability to lie. I think he’s the greatest liar on the planet, and the guy he lies to most consistently and with the most success is himself. This is a guy who rationalizes some of the worst behavior we’ve ever seen on television, and he does it by continually telling himself this very simple story. “I do what I do for my family. I’m a man. Sometimes a man has to go out and get his hands dirty and work hard.” But if he does it for the good of his family, if he does it to keep food on the table and to keep them whole, then it’s all right. I think that’s really where Walt’s head is at.

If you sat him down and said, “You’re a monster. You don’t need this money. What are you doing? You’re destroying you’re family,” he would look at you with bewilderment. He wouldn’t follow what you’re saying. To that end, this is why this guy interests me so much. We all know people who rationalize. In fact, we have all as human beings rationalized questionable behavior — for most of us, nothing ever nearly as questionable as cooking crystal meth, but we’ve all had moments in our lives where we’ve taken a morally questionable shortcut or we’ve mistreated somebody in some way that we felt okay in doing because we rationalized certain behaviors. We’ve all had those moments we’re not that proud of. But in the moment, we say, “Well, nobody’s looking. I’ll go ahead and do this thing because, what the hell. I’m sticking it to the man,” whatever the case may be. I think Walt is that level of somewhat self-destructive rationalization. I think he’s a fascinating character, and I think he is a warning to us.

When your hero is not a nice person, and he’s doing bad things, because he’s your protagonist, if you’re along for the ride, then you start to view things through his eyes. It’s the nature of storytelling. You’ll root for that person to succeed. And right now, Skyler gets in the way, on a purely mechanical level, of Walt’s success and happiness and therefore we see her as an obstacle and we don’t like for what she’s doing. The funny thing is, I see Skyler as the hero and Walt as the bad guy. I love Walt! He’s a great guy to write for, but he’s kind of a monster when you think about it. He shouldn’t be breaking into the house, trying to get back into her good graces when the things he’s done and the lies he told really make him not the good guy. She’s being heroic when she doesn’t tell the police on him.